Religion and Morality

William Wainwright, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA.

’This book is careful and lucid in its presentation and assessment of arguments on religion and morality. It is also well organized...Highly recommended.’ Choice 'Insofar as the book critically presents the views of important thinkers within traditions familiar to the author, it is a rich source of insight... a scholarly appraisal... Philosophers of religion, ethicists, academics in this field and readers of general philosophy will all find this book to be valuable reading.' Science and Theology News 'Wainwright writes critically yet sympathetically about the relation between morality and religious belief and brings an admirable nuance and judiciousness to some hotly debated issues.' Conversations in Religion and Theology 'Bill Wainwright has written a penetrating and well-organized examination of the relation between religion and morality. It is a work that will be especially appreciated by analytic philosophers of religion because of the careful parsing of various positions, objections to those, and possible replies to objections. The writing is clear, and the arguments stack up higher and higher.' International Journal for Philosophy of Religion ’All-in-all, Wainwright is to be commended for producing such a lucid, comprehensive, and philosophically sohisticated book. It should be on the 'must-read' list of anyone with a serious interest in the philosophy of religion.’ Philosophy in Review-Comptes rendus philosophiques ’In the entanglement of possible relationships obtaining between religion and morality, Wainwright's work remains both a tour d'history of positions on offer and a tour d' force of philosophical acumen with analytical methodology. As such, conceptually speaking, Wainwright's work is must-reading for philosophers trying to tackle crucial dimensions which have far too long been neglected or underdeveloped.’ Philsophical Investigations ’Wainwright is to be commended for producing such a lucid, comprehensive and philosophica

• Contents: Preface; Part I: Moral Arguments for the Existence of God: The 19th-century background; Kant, God, and immortality; Newman and the argument from conscience; The argument from the objectivity of value. Part II: Divine Command Theory and its Critics: The Euthyphro problem; Two recent divine command theories; Objections to divine command theory; The case for divine command theory. Part III: Human Morality And Religious Requirements: Religious ethics and rational morality; Abraham and the binding of Isaac; Mysticism and morality. Index.